The Supreme Court has directed a group of comedians for making “insensitive jokes” about persons with disabilities in their stand-up performances and instructed them to issue public apologies on their social media accounts as well.
The remarks came during the hearing of a plea filed by SMA Cure Foundation, which accused comedians Samay Raina, Vipun Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar, and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar of mocking differently abled individuals. As reported by News18, the bench, comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, said, “Apology you tendered before the court, give the same before your social media too."
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The case was heard alongside pleas by Ranveer Allahabadia and Ashish Chanchlani, who sought the consolidation of FIRs registered against them in connection with Samay Raina’s India’s Got Latent controversy.
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During proceedings, Justice Bagchi highlighted that the influencers were “commercialising speech” and warned that humor should not be used to hurt the sentiments of any community. “Humor is well taken and is a part of life. We laugh at ourselves. But when we start laughing at others and create a breach of sensibility…on a community plane, when humor is generated, it becomes problematic. And this is what so-called influencers of today should bear in mind. They are commercializing speech. The community at large should not be utilized to hurt the sentiments of certain sections. It’s not only freedom of speech, it’s commercial speech," she said, as reported by News18.
The comedians’ counsel confirmed that an unconditional apology had been tendered. Justice Kant added, “Next time tell us how much penalty we should impose on you." The counsel suggested that any cost should benefit disabled groups, to which Justice Kant replied, “Today it’s about the disabled, next time it can be women, senior citizens, children…where will this end?"
The court directed that each comedian post an apology on platforms like YouTube and podcasts.